a weekend in baños

i have woken up today feeling much better- the last few days my stomach has been feeling like its in a tumble dryer! etc, i'm sure you know what i mean. but today there is not a cloud in the sky, in fact it is even possible to see the snowcapped mountains around quito. over the weekend i have been in Baños with 6 of the other volunteers. Baños gets its name as it is full of hot natural springs as it sits beneath an active volcano. the volcano is constantly erupting and on saturday night we had a trip up a facing mountain to see it- very spectacular- smoke and lava spraying out of the top every ten miuntes or so, i don't think i would choose to live in baños if i had the choice! it has been a very active weekend, we arrived friday evening so only had time to check into our hostal (which was really cool, hammocks to chill out in, free internet, a real fire in the centre of the little socialsing area ans all for $5 a night- i hope all the hostels are this good) and go for a nice meal and then some drinking (i know iknow, not very active so far but socialising is just as important and something i'm quite good at) until the small hours. but then no lie-in on saturday, we booked a day of white water rafting which was really good fun. we all got soaked! the raft was fairly large and we had two guides, 4 of us volunteers and a ecuadorian couple who were on their honey moon along with us. some of the rapids were really big but none of us fell out, we did all have a swim tho! after the rafting, lunch was included at a lovely restaurant we had fresh fish beans and rice (beans and rice seem to be the staple food here!) then in the evening more drinking! but an early start again on sunday as we hired bikes and cycled down the mountain to look at all the waterfalls on the way, there are apparently 22 in total, i lost count but it was very beautiful. about half way down we stopped to use a cable car which crossed the valley (this is the only way that the local people can cross the valley so it was very busy and we had to wait a while). it was very spectacular but also a little scary as it seems to be operated by a man using what looked like bicycle pedals!!! on the other side of the valley we were ableto go fishing and then what we had caught was cooked up for our lunch! it tasted lovely but after having bashed the fish over a nearby rock to kill it i wasn't feeling exactly apetized- do you know how much fish bleed and how long it takes before they actually die and how much they wriggle in the process!! well check it out before you think that i'm a wimp! at the bottom of the mountain, well about as far down as we could be bothered to cycle there was the largest waterfall which it was possible to abseil down the side of, i decided against this as i'm sure the view form the top is just as good! yes ok i was a bit scared. we didn't cycle back up to baños we hitched a lift from a truck driver and he put our bikes and us in the back so the ride back up we could just check out the scenery, which is very beautiful. the mountains all around are absolutely huge and every thing is very green and lush, orchids grow wild here, so there are many colours and smells everywhere. sunday night we had decided to get the night bus back to quito, which left baños at 2am so it was another late night, unfortunately this is when i began to feel a little ill so some friendly americans that we had night the previous night let me take a siesta in their room whilst they went to the bar for this i was very grateful as i don't think i would have coped otherwise. everyone i meet here is very friendly and always seems willing to help you if they can.today the mum of the family i'm staying with gave me some earings just because she said i'm a nice person! they have been really kind especially when i wasn't feeling too good. and yes i have now established their names- luisa, mikeal, danielle (an ecuadorian student staying with them) and maria the maid. mikeal is some kind of engineer and luisa is a carer of old people in fact some times they come round to take lunch with us, as you can imagine the conversation is flowing with me being so good at spanish and all!!! i was supposed to start spanish with marcelo yesterday but i wasn't well enough and when i phoned today he has gone out!! every thing here is mañana mañana i realy want to learn some spanish before i start work at the hospital but on the other hand it is fun just bumming around and doing nothing in particular. i may find another spanish teacher, also danielle says she will help me sometime. it is easter here, obviously its easter there too! (duh) but here its a really big deal and they have lots of processions and a big fiesta so i look forward to that. ciao for now. k